Disgraced cardinal Keith O’Brien ‘will not return to Scotland’

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Monsignor Leo Cushley, Cardinal O'Brien's successor, said “It would probably be better for him not to come back to Scotland”Times photographer, James Glossop

Mike Wade

Last updated at 12:31AM, September 16 2013

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the disgraced former leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, is unlikely to be allowed to return to Scotland by the Vatican.

The papal opinion was revealed by Monsignor Leo Cushley, the cleric chosen to succeed Cardinal O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. He met Pope Francis in Rome last month and discussed the Scottish scandal. Mgr Cushley said the Pope had discussed Edinburgh “with great clarity” and had been resolute but compassionate.

Cardinal O’Brien resigned in February, on the eve of the papal conclave, following an apparent admission of sexual impropriety with a